The Mythos Threat - The Dreamlands and Out of Time
THE DREAMLANDS The Fall and the destruction that followed in its wake had an incredible impact on the Dreamlands with the sharp increase in human deaths. The year of the Fall had many of earth's Dreaming population relocated permanently to the Dreamlands, the largest number coming the moment one side of the planet was obliterated into the Desolation. Few Dreamers made it from the the events of the Fall safely into the Dreamlands, most of them dissipating to the void as their bodies were scorched away, but a significant handful did make it, albeit twisted by the experience, simply mad in the best of cases, warped into monsters in the worst. The events of the Fall had another effect on the Dreamlands. For millenia the entrance to the strange alternative Earth was accessible - with just a few exceptions - through a guarded stairwell that led to the Enchanted Woods. The Fall effectively cracked the shell that seperated the waking world from the fantastic Dreamlands. Whilst this made passage for regular travellers between the worlds more opportunities, including more entry points into the Dreamlands, it also meant that beings that lacked the knowledge to cross over to the other side now found it much easier. For the most part these cracks are not physical - it appears that it is essentially the spirit that crosses over. Whilst this led to many disturbing cases of possession in the real world, it also meant that the Dreamlands was suddenly swarming with inexperienced Dreamers and lost souls. A steady trickle of Dreamers followed as the surface of the world was ravaged by fighting, disease, and eventually unchecked environmental conditions. These initial refugees were accepted by the Dreamland inhabitants, blessed with the amazing ability and insight most Dreamers take for granted. However, the refugees kept coming and, with limited space, they they began to vie for new territory in their new homelands. The first Dreamers were recognised as individuals with their own merits who had escaped the horrors of the real world. But, in later years, as Dreamers died and passed over, they found that most of the conflict they had left behind began with renewed vigour in the Dreamlands, with many allegiances maintained. With the weakening of the barriers between both worlds, it was often the case that those who passed over to the Dreamlands found themselves amongst their fellow countrymen, finding themselves walking out of darkened forests, deep crevaces or shadowy doorways. If you were to compare a map of the Dreamlands to the real world you might recognise certain similarities, at least culturally. The Six Kingdoms seems to be where the bulk of Europan Dreamers find themselves. Across the ocean, Ooth-Nargai (and the capital of Celephaïs) is the destination for most Dreamers in North Amerika, much of the rest of the continent mapping onto the wasteland of the abandoned United States and the Latin American countries. Mnar seems to connect to the territories of the Nile Empire, whilst around the Cerenarian Sea it is supposed that the Plateau of Leng, as always, has a foothold in China and the land surrounding it. There doesn't seem to be an exact science at work here and many proficient Dreamers still find themselves descending the Seven Hundred Steps of Deeper Slumber into the Enchanted Wood. Those that do find themselves in the Dreamlands following this more traditional route have never encountered Nasht and Kaman-Tha, who abandoned their posts long ago for reasons not completely understood. Essentially this has resulted in a Dreamlands where the nationalities of earth have grouped together. Whilst older Dreamland cultures, supported by ancient Dreamers, have been able to keep their major settlements from being overrun, many of the larger cities have ghettoes that recognise these refugees. More noteworthy are the cities that have built up around the more talented of the newer Dreamers, many of whom have grouped together under the flags of their lost nationalities. In particular the Six Kingdoms, no longer an appropriate name, has become home to many warring city-states. There is much fighting between them, with bloody trench warfare and grabs for territory. Land and resources have always been stretched thin here, perhaps the most visited part of the Dreamlands prior to the Fall. The ghoul population migrated towards earth in vast numbers following the Fall. Following the decline of death and destruction, due to the drop in people still alive, many eventually returned to the dreamlands, where it had long been rumoured that there were new battlefields, and fresh dead. Whilst the Six Kingdoms is not as tied up in conflict as it once was, it is still very much feeling the effects of the war, graveyard to honour the dead often untended in the more dangerous reaches of the Dreamlands. Eventually the greatest minds amongst the Dreamers sought to find a solution. The pre-Fall generation of Dreamers were keen to preserve their land and culture from the desperate people who had died during the near destruction of the earth. Meanwhile the more proficient Dreamers that had crossed over during or after the Fall wanted to protect their less talented countrymen and prevent them dying again on an alien battlefield. The answer that came to them was to together seek new land in unexplored territories. A talented Dreamer could tame the more dangerous environments the Dreamlands had to offer. King Kuranes of Celephaïs, it is often pointed out, created the city entirely from his own dreams. A coalition of Dreaming minds might, therefore, create a whole nation out of nothing. And so it was that various factions set off across the dreamlands to discover new lands. Many of the European nations have sent representatives off to chart unexplored regions of the Dreamlands. In many ways this is an echo of earth's age of discovery. Four hundred years after the Fall and what might a Dreamer from earth find? Technology seems to have evolved further, to something that mimics the late Victorian Era, depending on where exactly you are and, often, the whims of the resident Dreamers. The Six Kingdoms saw much warfare in the style of The Great War, although there has been little effort made - or reason - to mass produce war machines like planes and tanks. There are strong cultural ties to earth nations, with cities based around London, Paris and Rome, but years of existence in this fantastic world have caused the rational minds of those patriotic Dreamers to grow in surprising directions. Technological advance might be noted most in terms of relatively modern sea vessels, which are used to visit colonies and friendly countries. In the Forbidden Lands, east of Ooth-Nargai and under the watchful eye of King Kuranes, are the United States of New America(Si-Can we change this to something less "60's sci-fi"? Maybe "The Union" or "New Haven"? just to keep it 'Dreamlandsy'), slowly spreading further east. Their technology seems to be very similar to that of pioneer Amerika, and Amerikan Dreamers that find themselves here will find opportunities denied to them in the grim reality of Amerika in the waking world. The Polity has little information about the Dreamlands. Because of the Fall the difference in technolgies isn't so readily apparent - the Dreamlands might seem, on first impressions, to be a lucid dream of an ideal world. Still, there are a few old archived files, that reference a Project Iceman, a pre-Fall experiment into sleep and dreams, in particular the effects of prolonged exposure. These files, should they surface, may prove invaluable to finding some of the greatest Dreaming minds on the other side of the barrier. In these final days, where the population of the world is just a fraction of what it once was, where there are few living competent Dreamers still drawing breath, some of earth's gods, the Great Ones, venture out of their safe little realm in order to find answers. Zo-Kalar, god of life and death, has been said to walk the earth in final judgement, although few who understand the relative weakness of the Great Ones to other gods of the Mythos give this much credence. Nodens, however, has been noteably absent from the Dreamlands, with speculation that he now hunts evil in the waking world. There appear to be a few cults dedicated to his name, and to the elimination of evil in its various forms, although there have been no reliable witnesses to his presence. The largest cult, a nomadic tribe that follow an old man known only as 'Noah', live just outside Polity territory in North Amerika. OUT OF TIME The timeline of the Cthulhu Mythos has been recorded in various volumes. In particular the Great Race of Yith has been known to catalogue whole eras of human history for unknown reasons. And yet from what material has been made available, there is destined to be a great Tsan empire in the future, five hundred years after the birth of Christ(? Do you mean 5000? Also, we can STILL destroy Earth in any sequel to CA. Tsan could be the name for the Chinese dreamlands enclave). Other minds have been plucked from even further into the future, from the last known continent of Zothique. And yet many of those who travelled through time immediately prior to the Fall find that the future that had previously been mapped out in accurate detail has somehow been derailed. The Tsan empire, as it was supposed to exist, is no longer connected to the 'present', although those few stranded sorcerers that came from that future seek to manipulate the flow of time to ensure their own existence. The continent of Zothique, it seems, is relatively untouched, always a nexus point of trans-dimensional and temporal portals. Whether this just means all human endeavor leads to this same primitive state or that this continent is the only future that survives of various diverse timelines is impossible to quantify. At the very least it is certain that members of the Great Race of Yith seem to reach this branch of the future only by incredible misfortune, in relative small numbers, as if this world was never supposed to be. Given that it doesn't match any recorded Yithian records is icredibly disorientating for these beings. The time stream is, of course, home to the Hounds of Tindalos, who have a tendency to hunt down those who look too deeply without taking precautions. They have no difficulty reaching this dark future, once they've caught the scent of their prey. And a great deal of them roam the temporal territories that coincide with the Fall, all too often visited by someone from years in the future attempting to divine the cause of the disaster that nearly destroyed the world.